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A PLEA FOR THE 

ADIRONDACK AND 

CATSKILL PARKS 




AN" AKGl'MEXT FOR THE RESUMFTIOX, 
BY THE STATE OF XEVV YORK, OF THE 
POLICY OF ACgUIRINC; LAXDS FOR 
THE PUBLIC BENEFIT WITH IX THE 
LLMITS (JI- THE FOREST PRESERVE 







*7 tnuxa£0r 



THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
PROTECTION OF THE ADIRONDACKS 



OFFICERS 

Preside)it 
MKXRY E. HOWLAXI) 

I 'ice- Presiden fs 
WARREN HIGLEV WILLIAM C. WHITNEY 

W^ILLIAM BARBOUR JAMES MAC NAUGHTOX 

WILLIAM G. ROCKEFELLER 

Treasurer 
EDWIN S. MARSTOX 

Secretary 
HEXRY S. HARPER 

Assistant Secretary 

EDWARD H. HALL 

Rrium 74, Tribune Building:, Xew York 



TRUSTEES 



HEXRY PHIPPS 
JAMES MAC XAUGHTOX 
ABRAHAM G. MILLS 
J. PIERPONT MORtiAX 
WILLIAM A. READ 
HENRY CODMAN POTTER 
ROBERT C. PRUYN 
\VHITELAW REID 
WILLIAM G. ROCKEFELLER 
TITUS SHEARD 
WTLLIAM BARBOUR 
WILLIAM H. BOARDMAX 
ALFRED G. VANDERBILT 
W\ G. VER PLANCK 
THOMAS S. WALKER 



SAMUEL B. WARD 
W. SEWARD WEBB 
ALFRED L. WHITE 
WILLIAM C. WHITNEY 
TIMOTHY L. WOODRUFF 
JOHN G. AGAR 
EDWIN A. MC ALPIN 
WILLIAM G. DE WITT 
HENRY S. HARPER 
WARREN HIGLEY 
HENRY E. HOWLAND 
ARCHER M. HUNTINGTON 
EDWIN S. MARSTON 
F. AUG. SCHERMERHORX 
EDWARD L. TRUDEAU 



A PLEA FOR THE 

ADIRONDACK AND 

CATSKILL PARKS 



New York a Pioneer in Forest Protection. 

THE Association for the Protection of the Adiron- 
dacks earnestly urges upon the Legislature of 
the State of New York the necessity for resuming the 
policy of acquiring lands for the public benefit with- 
in the limits of the Adirondack and Catskill Parks. 
For a period of fifteen years, beginning in 1885, the 
State of New York occupied a position of leadership 
in the movement lor forest conservation ; but during 
the past two years the policy of gradually taking 
woodlands under the care of the State has been sus 
pended. Our State was the first to create a F"orestry 
Commission, the first to grant money for the man- 
agement of its forests, and the first by legislative 
action to appropriate money for purchasing and en- 
laro-ino; its holdings of forest land. The wisdom of 
thus making provision for protecting its water-sheds 
has been so manifest, that its example has been fol- 
lowed by almost every State of the Union. What 
is more, the Federal Government some time ago 
set the stamp of its approval upon the ])olicy of 
forest conservation by the passage of laws creating 
those great i)rcserves or parks, the safeguarding of 



which has noAV become one of the marked feature? 
of our national economy. Any hesitation, therefore, 
on the part of New York, in regard to preserving 
the vState's forests cannot fail to be a matter for seri- 
ous appreliension throughout tlie commonwealth. 

An Established Policy Interrupted. 

The history of the State protection of the Adiron- 
dack and Catskill forests was steadily ])rogres- 
sive, from the establishment of the Forest Preserve in 
J885 during (rovernor Hill's first term, down to its 
interruption in igoi and 1902, during Governor 
OdelTs first term. During the first four years of Gov- 
ernor Hill's administration, the Forest Commission, 
which was created wdien the Forest Preserve was 
established, was liberally supported and performed 
valuable work preparatory to the purchase of lands. 
During that period, the beginning of the Catskill 
Preserve was also made. Commencing with 1890. 
appropriations were made for the purchase of lands 
under ever}- Governor, Democratic and Rejiublican. 
up to and including 1900 — in 1890 under Governor 
Hill, in i8q2 and 1894 under Governor Flower, in 
1895 under Governor Morton, in 1897 and 189S 
under Governor Black, and in 1899 and 1900 under 
Governor Roosevelt. It was in 1892, under (rover- 
nor Flower, that the Adirondack Park was estab- 
lished in the heart of the Adirondack Forest Pre- 
serve. 



7 
A Resumption of the State's Policy Demanded, 

]^ealizinf^ the widespread concern felt in conse- 
qnence of Governor Odell's refusal to approve of 
the further acquisition of forest lands during- the 
past two years, both of the leading political parties 
introduced strong- planks on the subject in their 
platforms last fall. 

The convention which renominated Governor 
Odell declared, in its platform adopted September 
24th, 1902 : 

*• We regard the Adirondack and Catskill Parks, 
with their forests, w aters and launa, as one of Na- 
ture's jniceless legacies to our imperial State, which 
the dictates of prudence, wise public policy and 
foresight require should be carefully safe-guarded 
and protected, not only as health resorts and pleasure 
grounds for the people, but as conservators of the 
water supply of our rivers and canals, so necessary 
for the continuous supremacy of the State. We 

IIIKREFORE FAVOR THE RESUMPTION BY THE STATE 
OF THE PURCHASE OF LANDS WrPHIN THE LIMITS OF 
THESE PARKS." 

The Democi-atic ]>latform, which was adopted 
October ist, 1902, declared in equally unmistakable 
terms, as follows : 

" We condemn the policy of the present Republi- 
can Governor in abandoning the purchase of lands 
within the limits of the Adirondack Park. These 
woods are necessary for the protection of the water 
supply of the rivers and canals of the State, and 
serve also as a pleasure ground and health resort for 
the people. If entrusted with authority, WE PLEDGE 

olRSELVLS TO THE IMMKDIATE Rl-SLMPTION (^F THE 



I'oi.irV INAUGURATED liV A 1)F..\I( )CRA TIC (lOVKRXOR. 
FOR THE ACQUISITION. I'OR THE SOEE BENEKIT OF 
THE I'EOPEE, OF THE ADIRONDACK FOREST EANDS, 

and \vc recoij^nize the necessity of furnishing full and 
adequate protection for game animals, fishes, song 
and game birds, and we pledge ourselves to secure 
the enactment of just laws to this end." 

A Bill to Meet the Situation. 

For the fulfillment of these pledges, the Hon. 
Charles F. Bostwick, of New York, introduced in 
(>o the Assembly, on March 3d, a bill " To continue 

the acquisition of land in the Adirondack Park and 
to provide for the extension of the Forest Preserve 
in the counties of Delaware, Greene, Sullivan and 
Ulster, and making an apj^ropriation therefor." The 
bill appropriates $800,000. of which $700,000 is for the 
purchase of lands in the Adirondack Park and 
$100,000 for additions to the Catskill Preserve. 

In view of the pledges given in the platforms of 
both parties last fall, it is difficult to see how the 
present Legislature can fail to pass an appropriation 
bill for this purpose. The declarations which we 
have quoted are re-affirmations of a policy to which 
both parties have been committed for manv years, 
and come with great force to both Republican and 
Democratic members of the Legislature. 

Present Opportunities. 

In 1892, during the administration of Governor 
Flower, the Slate defined the outlines of an area 
ol 3,004,855 acres in the heart of the Adirondack Pre- 



serve, including the larger part of the great North 
Woods, and designated it as the Adirondack Park. 
At present the State owns over one-third of this 
area. Of the remaining two-thirds, there is a larsre 
area immediately available for acquisition by the 
State upon favorable terms. It can be stated upon 
the best authority that during the past two years, 
owners have offered to sell to the State over 200,000 
acres of Adirondack forest land which the State 
could not buy because it had no appropriation. At 
the same time, there is an equally large amount in 
the market which has not been offered, either be- 
cause the owners knew that the State had ceased 
buying, or because the owners were not particularly 
anxious to sell. The latter, it is believed, can be se- 
cured at a fair price. It is reliably estimated that 
there are, altogether, about 700,000 acres of lum- 
bered land — ti"acts covered with good hardwood 
forest interspersed with small evergreens — w^hich 
can be bought by the State upon voluntary sales at 
prices ranging from $1.50 to $3.00 an acre ; and it is 
estimated that the State could spend advantageously 
to-day — and more advantageously now than at a 
later time — about $1,800,000 for these forest lands 
which are now in the market or for which the own- 
ers would consider any reasonable proposition com- 
ing from the State. 

A Moderate Appropfiation Asked. 

In view of the fact that this is the third year 
since any appropriation has been made for this pur- 



lO 

pose, and compared with the opportunities above 
mentioned for enlarging the State's holdings at a min- 
imum cost, the appropriation of onl}/ $800,000 called 
for in Assemblyman Bostwick's bill is very moder- 
ate. 

Procrastination Expensive. 

The upward tendency of prices of land in the 
Adirondacks is a strong argument for present 
action. Every year's age added to the growth of 
timber naturally enhances the value of the land on 
which it stands, and it is in the interest of economy 
for the State to buy NOW, instead of procrastinating 
until prices have materially advanced. The increase 
in value of these lands during the past fifteen or 
twenty years is made strikingly apparent by a com- 
parison of the prices ruling at the time of the estab- 
lishment of the Forest Preserve with those of to- 
day. The buying and selling records of Adiron- 
dack lands for ten vears prior to 1885 showed lands 
covered with pine and s|)ruce to be worth about a 
dollar an acre, and cleared lands about five cents an 
acre. The latter was the price at which the State 
formerly sold thousands of acres of heavily timbered 
lands. In 1883, 30,000 acres of pine forest land in 
the Sacandaga country sold for 80 cents an acre. At 
the present time similar lands are worth from fifteen 
to twenty-five times what they sold for twenty years 
ago. At this rate of increase what will i\dirondack 
lands cost the State a few years hence ? 

Every consideration of ec(jnomy and wise public 
policy, therefore, as well as good faith to the jjeople. 



1 1 



ought to constrain the members of the Legislature to 
grant a Hberal appropriation for the iiiiincdiatc 
resumption of the interrupted policy of building up 
our inestimably valuable Forest Parks. With such 
a bill passed, they can return to their constituents 
with the satisfaction of having discharged an im- 
portant public duty and fulfilled the pledges to the 
people solemnl}' given in their respective party 
platforms. 



The Governor's Approval. 

Nor is it to be believed that when the Adiron- 
dack Appropriation bill comes to Governor Ode! I 
he will withhold his approval. The Governor 
believes in the Adirondacks; but he has been reluc- 
tant hitherto to consent to the extension of State 
ownership until some far-reaching and comprehen- 
sive plan could be formulated. He has therefore 
been content to suspend completely the policy es- 
tablished b}^ the unbroken practice of the five Gov- 
ernors immediately preceding him. 

The main point of the Governor's position — 
namely, that he desires to have some definite idea 
concerning future requirements for completing the 
Adirondack Park, — is not incompatible with a con- 
tinuation of the policy of his predecessors. The 
two plans — that of taking advantage of present op- 
portunities and that of forecasting future needs — 
can be pursued simultaneously without any sacrifice 
of consistency. 



12 



It is not unreasonable to expect the Governor to 
accomodate his views somewhat this year to the 
very wide spread popular sentiment on this subject. 
The inaction of the Legislature with reference to 
Adirondack Park extension during the two years of 
his first term was the direct cause of the declaration 
in favor of resumption made in the party platforms 
last fall. The Governor cannot well disregard the 
explicit promise of his party on this subject. He 
was elected upon a definite pledge of resumption — 
not resumption at some distant date under some 
other Governor, but resumption NOW, within the 
term for which he was elected. To defer it until an 
inquiry commission has been appointed, has inves- 
tigated and has reported, is to defer it beyond the 
period contemplated in the pledge. 

A Public Opinion Entitled to Recognition. 

It is inconceivable for a moment that the Gover- 
nor will fail to realize the force of his party's utter- 
ance last fall or to honor frankly and fully the 
promise given. One needs but to recall the 702,802 
votes that championed the cause of the Adirondacks 
when a proposed constitutional amendment was 
voted upon in 1896, to gain some idea of the extent 
of the popular sentiment in favor of the Forest Pre- 
serve which claims the Executive's deference ; or to 
remember the narrow Republican plurality of 8,- 
803 last November to realize what might have hap- 
pened if half that number of friends of the Adiron- 
dacks had been estranged— as they most certainly 



would have been — by the neglect of the party to 
pledge its honor promptly to resume the purchase 
of lands in the Adirondack and Catskill Parks. 

Weighty Reasons for Protecting: the Forests. 

The reasons for taking forest lands into the care 
of the State are very substantial. 

It is a primitive conception of the functions of a 
tree that regards it simply as a source of material 
for manufacture. Scientific research and common 
observation have revealed other relations between 
the forests and the welfare of mankind which de- 
m.onstrate a value in standing forests greater than 
their vaiue as a source of materials for manufacture. 

Modern discoveries concerning the influence of 
forests on the precipitation of rain, the decrease of 
surface evaporation, the sustenance of springs, the 
equalization of the discharge of streams, the purity 
of water supply, the clarifying of the atmosphere, 
the diminution of temperature in summer and the 
amelioration of the rigors of winter, are beginning to 
impress upon the pubHc mind, as never before, the 
intimate and important relation between our forests 
and the agricultural, commercial, hygienic and sani- 
tary interests of the people. To-day, when the ad- 
vance of the omnivorous steam saw-mill has left us 
but a fraction of our original forest possessions, we 
are awakening — and none too soon— to the realiza- 
tion that a tree is not merely food for a factory to 
consume, but that it is in very truth a factory itself — a 
laboratory for the manufacture of pure air and pure 



water and a storage battery of chemical and physical 
energy indispensable for the prosecution of the vast 
and varied commercial and manufacturing industries 
which are the very foundation of our present pros- 
perity. In the light of such revelations we stand 
aghast at the prodigality which has characterized the 
treatment of our forests and instinctively turn to 
rescue them as among the best friends of man. 



Forests and Agriculture. 

As the prosperity of the agricultural industries 
of the State is dependent, in a large measure, 
upon the extensive net-work of lakes and ponds, 
rivers and small streams, due to and fed from its 
forests, the importance of the forests to the agricul- 
tural interests may be measured by the extent of 
those interests. 

By the census of 1890, New York ranked fourth 
among the States of the Union in the area of her 
farming lands, third in their total value and third in 
their average value per acre. With farming prop- 
erty valued at over $1,200,000,000 she possessed one 
and a half times as much as the amount invested in 
the agricultural industries of the six New England 
States ; about one-seventh of that of the great farm- 
ing States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wis- 
consin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Dakota, 
and Nebraska combined, and one-fourteenth of all 
the capital employed in agriculture in the entire 
Union. In 1889 the value of her farm products was 



15 

equal to one-fifteentli of that of ail the States and 
Territories. 

The position of New York in relation to her in- 
ternal economy is exceptional. The farm products 
of the o-reat agricultural States of the Mississippi 
valley have to seek the whole world for their mar- 
ket. The farmers of New York State, on the con- 
trary, have, at their very doors, a market created by 
the manufacturing industries of their own State, and 
those due to her canals, along which latter has arisen 
a chain of cities which, for their population and the 
value of their vested interests, are not equaled by 
those of any other section of the Union. 

Forests and Manufacture. 

It is claimed that the cutting down of our forests 
furnishes materials for the use of large capital and 
much labor. The argument is a specious one and 
seeks to conceal the fact that such industries are 
dealing a fatal blow at other interests of the State 
employing many times the amount of capital and 
number of employes. The improvidence of such a 
policy carries with it the reasons for its own con- 
demnation, injuring, as it does, the prosperity of the 
community at large. 

By the census of 1900 New York stands first 
among the States and Territories in the amount of 
capital invested in manufacturing, first in the cost of 
materials used, first in the value of manufactured 
products, first in the amount of wages paid, and first 
in the number of persons employed. In the support 



i6 

and development of these industries the State of 
New York has been using more water horse power 
(exclusive of the water power derived from Niagara 
River) than any other State or Territory of our 
country. And the volume, steadiness and reliability 
of this source of energy are largelv dependent upon 
the maintenance of forest areas. No fact has been 
demonstrated more clearly than that the flow of 
streams is affected by the removal of forests, and 
that the removal of the regulating influence of the 
trees converts previously reliable streams into spas- 
modic, "flashy'' and unreliable water courses, dry 
at some periods and the channels of destructive 
fioods at others. 

Water power, when pro})erly conserved and 
utilized, is the cheapest of all power for manufac- 
turing purposes. Water flows continuously by grav- 
itation, and the development of its power goes on 
without the expense attendant upon the evolution of 
power from coal. Moreover, the successful utilization 
of some of our water courses for the generation of 
electricity, points to the general application of this 
subtle and powerful agent as a motive power in the 
progress of the various arts and industries. Thus a 
new and increased value attaches to our rivers and 
tributaries, and a new source of wealth has been dis- 
covered in them which cannot fail to add materially 
to the prosperity of the State if judiciously con- 
served by the protection of their forest sources. 



17 

Forests and Pure Water. 

The importance of the Adirondack Park in its re- 
lation to the supply of water for drinking and san- 
itar}' purposes for a large section of the State has 
not adequately been appreciated. Forest streams 
carry less mud and silt than other streams, and the 
exclusion of large populations and manufacturing in- 
dustries from the forested area prevents the artificial 
pollution so common elsewhere. 

The subject of an adequate supply of pure water 
for the countless needs of modern liv'ing is an all im 
portant one, and one in which not only the great and 
increasing centers of population are deeply con- 
cerned, but also all other sections of the State. In 
some of the former, the serious inconveniences, and 
even dangers, of an insufificient watersupply have been 
realized already, and fears as to the wide-spread and 
deplorable evils which must result from the contin- 
uance of such conditions have frequently been ex- 
pressed by those whose judgment is worthy of our 
earnest consideration. 

Our rivers and their tributaries are diminishing 
in volume. The advance of salt water and the re- 
treat of the fresh in the Hudson River, its increas- 
ing sand-bars and shallow^s which require constant 
dredging, and the growing exposure of the shores of 
Lake George, Lake Champlainand other lakes of the 
State by the lowering of their waters, are matters of 
common knowledge. It is certain that in the near 
future, by reason of the growing demands upon 
them, the watersheds that now supply our chief 



i8 

cities will cease to yield the water necessary to as- 
sure the health, comfort and prosperity of their in- 
habitants. 

This question of a water supply is one whose im- 
portance is borne in upon our attention with irresist- 
ible force by a study of the increase of the population 
of the original City of New York daring the past cen- 
tury. Starting with 60,000 inhabitants in 1800, the 
increase has been equal to an average gain every de- 
cade of about 44 per cent., while in the last five de- 
cades Brooklyn has surpassed this figure in her aver- 
age growth. 

But assuming that the average increase in the next 
two decades will be but 30 per cent., the population 
of Greater New York in 1920 will be about 6,000,- 
000, and if it increases at the rate of 25 per cent, per 
decade for the succeeding 30 years the population of 
this imperial citv will be about 12,000,000 in 1950. 
The normal consumption of water per capita in New 
York City is increased by the fact that the city is 
the greatest manufacturing center in the countr}-. If 
this consumption be estunated at the low figure of 
150 gallons a day per capita in 1920 and 180 gallons 
in 1950, the city would require 900,000,000 gallons of 
water per day in 1920, and 2,160,000,000 gallons a 
day in 1950. 

The daily use of such enormous volumes of water 
in the near future raises at once the question as to 
its sources, and vv^e turn instinctively to the water- 
sheds of the State and to the abundance of waters in 
the Adirondacks for the solution of the problem. 



19 

Forests and Fire Insurance. 

The forests, as conservators of our water supply, 
also bear an important relation to the subject of fire 
insurance. A proper supply and pressure of water 
are necessary safeguards for human life and propert}" 
throughout the commonwealth. This need is especi- 
ally great in the City of New York. A few years 
ago the real estate of the Borough of Manhattan 
exceeded in value that of any State of the Union, 
except New York, of which it is a part. In the 
mercantile and banking sections, owing to geo- 
graphical limitations of area, land is worth from ten 
to fifteen million dollars an acre. This high cost of 
land in turn necessitates the erection of many-storied 
and expensive buildings to yield an income from the 
property. Moreover, these high buildings require 
both an increased water supply and increased water 
pressure. With a water pressure in the metropolis 
less than that of many of the other large cities of the 
United States, New York has epigram matically 
been described as a '' twenty-story city with a two- 
story water pressure." The surest guarantee of 
immunity against a destructive visitation by fire is 
the provision of an adequate and reliable supply of 
water, which can only be ensured by the perpetu- 
ation of the water-conserving forests of the State. 

Aesthetic and Educational Value of Forests. 

In addition to the material benefits conferred by 
our forests, thev have an ^thetic and educational 



20 

value which cannot be disregarded. Man's love for 
trees is almost as instinctive and universal as his 
love of life itself. He sees in them the largest and 
most impressive products of organic life— the long- 
est-lived and oldest living things on earth, out-last- 
ing man himself and connecting the present genera- 
tion almost vv^ith the dawn of civilization. Their 
beneficent function in human economy excites man's 
wonder and his gratitude to the Creator of all good 
things. Standing in their living beauty they were 
man's first shelter and God's first temples, and felled 
and fashioned they have ministered to human needs 
ever since. When man outgrew the superstitious 
worship of sacred groves he carried his ineradicable 
love of trees into the construction of his Christian 
temples, where it blossomed in the beauties of gothic 
architecture. Architect, painter and poet have 
been inspired by the forests to the noblest efforts of 
the human intellect, and man in all stations and call- 
ings has found in them his refuge from the worri- 
ments and artificialities of life and the never-failing 
fountain of new courage to face its cares. 

To the student of botany and natural history the 
wood-lands afford facilities for research and investi- 
gation which nothing else can equal. There trees, 
shrubs and plants are found in their native home, 
and there their habits of growth and mutual relations 
are best studied. 

The woods are also the habitat of our largest, 
rarest and most characteristic animals, for which 
they constitute a natural preserve. The removal of 



21 



the trees means the extinction of our wild species 
from the State ; and the protection of our fauna for 
the study of natural history is inseparable from the 
preservation of our forests. 

Text books and museums cannot wholly take the 
place of living objects, and the woods should be pre- 
served as Nature's University for the teaching of 
lessons which they alone can impart. 



The Adirondacks as a Sammer Resort. 

When, to the natural love of the woods and their 
educational advantages, we add the benefit to be de- 
rived from even a temporary residence in their rest- 
ful shades and invigorating atmosphere, and the 
facilities which they afford for hunting and fishing, 
we have the key to their popularity as summer 
resorts. By reason of their accessibility, their salu- 
brity, and the wild and rugged beauty for which 
they they are so justly celebrated, the Adirondacks 
as a region of summer resorts are unsurpassed by 
any other section of our country. Their waters, val- 
leys and forests offer their various benefits and op- 
portunities to all those seeking rest and recreation. 
With proper care for the forests and for their fish 
and game, they will continue to attract an increasing 
number of visitors from within and without the 
State, and be a source of large and increasing reve- 
nue to our people. 

The importance of the Adirondacks as a summer 
resort appears from the report of Col. Wm. F. Fox 



22 

Superintendent of State Forests, to the Legislature 
of 1903. 

In the summer of 1902, the hotels in the Adiron- 
dacks had the capacity of entertaining 27,502 guests 
at one time. This figure does not take into account 
the large capacity of private camps and cottages, 
each occupied during the season by a famil}- and its 
guests. The summer boarders coming and going 
from June to September, stay on an average about 
two week each. In the White Mountains, an ex- 
haustive census of the summer people and the hotel 
business shows that sixty-two per cent, of the 
arrivals remained less than one week. A careful 
estimate of the total number of summer visitors from 
the beginning to the end of the season, as reported 
by the Adirondack hotels and boarding houses, to 
which are added the occupants of private camps, 
shows that 193,681 people went there last season for 
recreation and health. 



Volume of Adirondack Business. 

That this number is not an overstatement is evi- 
dent from the information furnished by the general 
passenger agents of the New York Central and 
Delaware & Hudson railroads, from which it ap- 
pears that the former carried 100,000 and the latter 
1 2 5,000 passengers on their Adirondack divisions dur- 
ing the summer season. The New York Central 
estimates its passenger earnings on account of Adi 
rondack business in 1902 at $400,000 and the Dela- 



23 

ware & Hudson Co. theirs at $475,000. The latter 
company estimates that 60 per cent, of its Adiron- 
dack business orii^inated outside ot New Vork 
State. 

The followini^ statement prepared by the auditor 
of the New Vork Central for the three summer 
months of 1902 is interesting as showino^ also the at- 
tractiveness of the Catskill reg-ion, as well as Niagara 
Falls and the Thousand Islands : 

Passen- Ruilroad 

gers. tares. 

Adirondack section 100,000 $400,000 

Thousand Island section 50,000 160,000 

Niagara Falls 160,000 170,000 

Catskill Mountains.- 85.000 155.000 

395.000 $885,000 

The following statistics are based on the returns 
made to the Superintendent of State Forests by each 
hotel and boarding house in the Adirondack region 
and the railroad companies above mentioned : 
Capital invested in buildings, furniture, 
boats, horses, carriages, etc.. not in- 
cluding land: 

Hotels and boarding houses $7-037,923 

Private camps and cottages 3,846,500 

$10,884,423 



24 

Number of male help employed — clerks, 
porters, cooks, bell boys, musicians, 
boatmen, stablemen, drivers, laborers, 
etc 3.461 

Number of female help employed — 
waitresses, chambermaids, cooks, 
laundresses, musicians, telegraph op- 
erators, typewriters, etc 9,846 



13.307 



Total wages paid $993. 530 

Total number of hotel guests, boarders, 
fishermen, hunters, and occupants of 
private camps or cottages 193,681 

Cash received for board, carriages, 

boats, etc $5,213,210 

Cash received for railroad and steam- 
boat fares - $875,000 

The Catskill Park. 

The Forest Preserve, as defined in the law, in- 
cludes lands owned by the State in 12 counties lying 
north of the JMohawk River and 4 counties — Greene, 
Ulster, Sullivan and Delaware— lying south of it. 
The latter region, embracing, as it does, the Cat- 
skill Mountains, is called for convenience the Catskill 
Preserve or Park. 

What has been said concerning the protection of 
the watersheds of the Adirondacks applies with equal 
force to those of the Catskiils. In the Catskill Pre- 



serve, — which has about three-tifths tlic area of the 
.Vdirondack Preserve, — the State owns some 8.),ooo 
acres. It sJiould own 5cxd,ooo acres to ii;uarantee 
proper] \- the preservation ol the inijjortant Hudson 
l\i\cr watershed and assure a desirable and con- 
venient summer resort tor the \ast and increasing- 
population of New \'ork Citv and the Hudson \^al- 
le}'. .\hiiost ftve-se\enths of tlie i)0])idation of the 
State live within easy reach of the Catskills. The 
re.^ion is readil\- accessible by land and water at h)w 
rates of fare ; it ])Osesses manv natural and acquired 
attractions for the health and pleasure seekei" ; and 
is an unsurpassed resort not onlv for j)eo|)le of 
Avealth. but also lor ihe masses of moderate means. 



The Destruction of the Catskill Forests. 

The desti'uction ol tlie forests in this famous re- 
i^non has been proceeding- with increasing' and alarm- 
ing- ra])iditv with the discovery ol nudtij^lied uses 
lor timber in all statues of ""rowth. Lumberini;- and 
tanning- first strip|)ed it of its ])ine, hr and hemlock. 
The wood-pul{). furniture, wood-acid, excelsior and 
other industries have followed, each consuming- the 
woods suitable lor its purposes, until even the small- 
est saplings are removed. Last of all come the berrv- 
Dickers. who surreptitiousl}- start hres, as they ha\e 
done in the Adirondacks, for the purpose of buniuii^ 
over denuded tracts solely to increase their crops, 
without regard for the irreparable losses that so 
otten follow. 



26 

These burnt districts, with their charred trunks. 
young- brush and saplings, present favorable c(jndi- 
tions for, and increase the probabiiit}- of, future con 
flagrations. In addition lo the actual destruction of 
the timber, these successive burnings render the soil 
dry, loose, and dusty, so that it is readily blown or 
washed away and the rock laid bare. The ultimate 
result is that the region is no longer protected bv 
the forests or refreshed by its streams. It is parclied 
by the excessive heat of summer, exposed to the 
rigoi-s of winter, and subject to the freshets of spring : 
and thus, unsheltered from the extremes of the sea- 
sons, It becomes worthless for commercial pur])oses. 
desolate as a place of residence, and a source of dan- 
ger to other neighborhoods, for in the cycle of cause 
and effect, F"ire has now become the parent ot the 
1 orrent and the Flood. 



Legendary and Historical Associations of the Catsfcills. 

In addition to these material considei'alions. the 
Catskill Mountains have other strong clamis upon 
the State for the preservation of their attractiveness. 
Rearing tiieir heads 4,0:0 feet abox'e the le\el of the 
sea, these "Mountains of the Sky" ai^e the loftiest 
and most picturesque elevations along the Hudson 
l-viver south of its distant springs in the Adirondacks, 
and have probabh- been seen and admired, if not 
visited, by more ])eoi;)le than any other mouniain 
group in America. Inhabited b}' Indians l)etore their 
tlisco\'ei"y b\ llendrik Hudson, and King close upon 



27 

the great natural thorcnii^hfarc by which the white 
man made his advent into this State, they have be- 
come invested with a wealth of legendary and his- 
torical association which gives them a peculiar and 
exclusive charm. Every thoughtful and appreciative 
traveler abroad acknowledges the increased pleasure 
derived from the fascination and interest which fable 
and romantic history have attached to the scenes 
which he visits ; yet here, upon our American Rhine, 
we may hnd the same delights ; for Myth and 
Legend, which have peopled the forests, mountains, 
and valleys, the lakes, rivers and cataracts of the Old 
World with supernatural and shadowy beings, have 
also cast their spell over the craggy heights, the green 
uplands, and the leafy solitudes of the Catskills. In- 
vested, as they are. with the traditions of the Abo- 
rigines, the iniaginalive creations of the early ex- 
plorers, and the associations of authentic history, 
the Catskills preserve the memorials of a people's 
origin and should be cherished as a potent ins})ira- 
tion to the student of historv, as w^ell as to the 
poet, the painter and the writer. 

The widespread and increasing interest now 
manifesting itself in relation to all things pertaining 
to revolutionar}', colonial and pre-historic times in 
America, is one of the most conspicuous signs ot the 
progress oi modern culture. The consciousness ol 
power and greatness, as well as of the influences 
which we must exercise upon the affairs ot the 
world, which has come u|)()n the Nation, has 
awakened a common desire to know something more 



28 

than it has known ot its past lite, its imicjue bejj'in- 
ning'S and its marveh)Lis growth. This region, there- 
fore, has a peculiar claim upon the community tor 
its preservation, favored, as it is. bv historic and 
patriotic association and enriched bv romantic tra- 
ditions and legendarv lore reachin"' back into the 
dim morning- twilight ol the Nation's life. 

The disfigurement of the natural landsca[)e 
features of the Catskills, and the obliteration of land- 
marks u hich have thus far perpetuated the identity 
of historic localities and the memorv of the actors 
in historic scenes, cannot fail to injure the sources of 
interest which have made the Catskills celebrated 
and classic ground, not onlv for the ])eople of the 
State of iNew \'ork, but also for those of the whole 
coimtrv. 

A Source of Poetic and Artistic Inspiration. 

The Catskills. with their endless variety ot wild 
and .picturesque beauty — their domes and spires 
glowing in morning and evening twilights, their 
wooded shades, their singing streams, their dusky 
gorges — these '' Onti Ora " or ''Mountains of the 
.Skv " as the Indians called them, have been a pro- 
lific source of ins])iration to literature and art. Here 
Cole's imagination was stirred to produce his cele- 
brated series of allegorical pictures known as "The 
Voyage of Life." Here Church, the great landscape 
painter, reveled in the never-ending glories of his 
surroundings, and xMartin, Kensett, Cropsy, Bough- 
ton. Gifford. Durand and Kissam lound ins])iration 



29 

for their brushes. V\y these precipitous heights Irv- 
ing sent Rip Van Winkle trudi^inj^ with the burden 
imposed ui)on him by Hendrik Hudson's crew. 
Amoni^ these fastnesses, Cooper sent roamin^^ 
Natty Bumpo, who so truly said that " None know- 
how often the hand of Crod is seen in the wilderness 
but them that royc it." Brvant's muse san^- of the 
spot where 

" Midst greens and shades the Kuterskill leaps 
From cliffs where the wood-flower clings ; " 

and the pens of Willis, Halleck, Drake, Harriet .Nfar- 
tineau, and others have celebrated the splendors ol 
the Catskills in prose and verse. 

Shall not these sources of inspiration, which ma\- 
be said to have i^iven the State a Literature, be res- 
cued fr(jm the axe and saw and from the fiery blight 
that follows in their wake? 



Our Duty to Posterity. 

In considering the subject of <jur forests we shoulo 
not f(jrget that we are under a moral obligation to 
transmit them as a heritage without deterioration to 
generations that are to follow us. This does not 
mean that the forests should not be utilized us 
sources of material when, in the future, silyiculture 
is sufficiently advanced and a wise policy of forest 
treatment has been established ; but the attitude 
assimied towards the Adirondacks by the State 
administration during the past two years, to the 
effect that it woidd not favor any further ai)propri- 



30 

ations for the acquisition of forest lands by the State 
until such a policy had been established, appears 
most short sighted. The duty of the State would 
seem to be to buy uoiv, while they are still wooded, 
such of the forest lands as are available, and save 
them until we /i/ivi' rstablislipd a policv- If this is 
not done, in the words of a member of the Forest, 
Fish and Game Commission, our forests will soon be 
converted into the charred and blackened "stump- 
fields" that ever follow the axe and the saw-mill, 
and by the time we have formulated a policy we will 
have no forests to which to apply it. Clothing as 
they do the heights and table-lands of the State, and 
drawing from the exhaustless clouds the full bounty 
of their life-giving showers, our forests are not a gilt 
of nature to the present generation to minister to its 
pleasures and needs alone. They are a solemn trust, 
to be administered wisely and handed down unim- 
paired to posterity, which will understand as man 
has not yet understood, how essential they are to 
h.is best interests and welfare. 



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